The Moderator's Easter Message following her cancelled visit to St Andrew's Jerusalem

An Easter service from the Holy city of Jerusalem will still feature the Moderator of the Church of Scotland despite the outbreak of war in the Middle East forcing the cancellation of her planned in person visit.

Although she cannot be there in person, Rt Rev Rosie Frew is looking forward to preaching at St Andrew’s Scots Memorial Church in Jerusalem on Easter Sunday via this online link. https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82762914012...

Following the cancellation of her planned Easter visit to the Holy Land, Mrs Frew has also written to Christian leaders in Palestine and Israel to assure the Christian community they are in the thoughts and prayers of the Kirk.

Mrs Frew was scheduled to travel to the region at the end of March to celebrate and show solidarity with the Christian community of Palestine and Israel and meet the leaders of the Episcopal, Lutheran, and Latin Catholic Churches, as well as participate in the Easter Celebrations. The visit would also have seen her meet local partners of the Church of Scotland such as the Tent of Nations environmental and educational farm near Bethlehem, and Rabbis for Human Rights.

The visit was cancelled following the US and Israeli attacks on Iran and the retaliation that followed, and the Moderator has written to the church leaders she hoped to meet in person to express her sorrow at being unable to visit and the concerns which the Church of Scotland shares for the people of the Holy Land.

The opportunity to preach at an Easter service in the city which witnessed the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus was to have been one of the highlights of the visit, but Mrs Frew still plans to join the congregation of St Andrew’s online to confirm her commitment and solidary with the region’s Christian community, and is encouraging people to share in this message by joining the service themselves.

She has also expressed the Church of Scotland’s support for the Christians of the Holy Land and her disappointment at not being able to visit in her letter to local church leaders.

Mrs Frew writes:

His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land

The Most Reverend Hosam E. Naoum, Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem & Primate of the Province of Jerusalem & the Middle East

His Eminence Doctor Imad Haddad, 5th Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land

Your Beatitude, Your Excellencies,

Greetings in the name of Christ in this Holy Week as we walk towards the cross and beyond to the resurrection.

I am deeply sorry that my proposed visit to Jerusalem and the Holy Land this Holy Week has had to be cancelled.

It was a visit I, and my pilgrimage group, had been greatly looking forward to making.

I am aware from first hand reports how much this war is impacting communities throughout Palestine and Israel, alongside the devastation that it is causing in Iran and the Gulf States. I also understand the deep distress that your Beatitude has experienced at being blocked from worshipping with the Custos in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday, and hope there will be free access for you and other worshippers in the days to come.

I had very much looked forward to sharing in the Holy Week reflection and sorrow and joining together in the Easter resurrection celebrations with you and your communities, and sharing with you the love, prayers, and solidarity of the Church of Scotland.

As we go through this holy season, and as we give thanks for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the man from Nazareth whose life is imprinted on the very stones in which your people live out the Christian faith every day, I offer love and prayers from me and the whole Church of Scotland to you and your people.

I pray for a cessation of war; for a cessation of the violence being perpetrated in communities in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza; for the freedom and protection of the Christian community; and for peace with justice throughout Palestine and Israel. I also ask you to share with us how we can better support you and your people in their resurrection witness in this day and time.

Alongside our Christian family in Palestine and Israel, the Church of Scotland will also walk the via Dolorosa this Holy Week. We give thanks for your witness and pray that your churches will be allowed to open and the faithful may gather in unity with all those celebrating the glorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday.

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

Yours sincerely,

Rt Rev Rosie Frew

Mrs Frew also expressed her sadness that Cardinal Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, was denied entry to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre by Israeli authorities on Palm Sunday.

As the recognised place of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is central to the faith of Christians worldwide. The refusal of access has been seen as unacceptable by Christians worldwide, leading many to question religious freedom within Israel and Palestine.

As the Latin Patriarchate said in its statement: “This hasty and fundamentally flawed decision, tainted by improper considerations, represents an extreme departure from basic principles of reasonableness, freedom of worship, and respect for the status quo.”

While there were clearly security considerations, the Cardinal’s visit had been pre-arranged and was for a very limited number of people.

Although Cardinal Pizzaballa and other church leaders are now free to visit the Holy places following the interjection of the President of Israel Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Moderator shares the sense the disappointment of many Christians that entry was denied at all.

The Easter Sunday service at St Andrew’s will begin at 8am UK time and can be accessed using this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82762914012...